How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!
He has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.
3 He has cut down in fierce anger
all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
4 He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel;
he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
mourning and lamentation.
6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins his meeting place;
the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
7 The Lord has scorned his altar,
disowned his sanctuary;
he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.
8 The Lord determined to lay in ruins
the wall of the daughter of Zion;
he stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament;
they languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and her prophets find
no vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have thrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes are spent with weeping;
my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out to the ground
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babies faint
in the streets of the city.
12 They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers' bosom.
13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
that are false and misleading.
15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of all the earth?”
16 All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; we see it!”
17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago;
he has thrown down without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the might of your foes.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!
19 “Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”
20 Look, O Lord, and see!
With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 In the dust of the streets
lie the young and the old;
my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering without pity.
22 You summoned as if to a festival day
my terrors on every side,
and on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
those whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed. Lamentations 2 ESV
Lamentations 2 The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity
1-9. Under a cloud - This is not for shade, but for punishment. There are, in the minds of men, many an impression of hell, and so often I hear it described as the absence of God. This is only partly true, for it is the absence of His grace, but it is also the presence of His infinite wrath towards sin, which except by grace a man can never stop committing. This cloud over God's people is still a mercy, for they are still alive, and from the sound of the prophet, some seem to realize the origin of this darkness. Jonah thought himself out of God's sight when he was in the belly of the fish, and how dark a place in the depths as well, but even there God heard him. God was there. When Christ was on the cross, it pleased the Lord to crush Him, and darkness fell across the place where infinite wrath was drank by an infinite Being, the cup He took in my place.
…11I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! As you have believed, so will it be done for you.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.… Matthew 8: 11-13
32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” And even those who were crucified with Him berated Him. 33 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 34At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”… Mark 15: 32-34
He has not remembered His foot stool - The ark of the covenant is most likely the reference here. The earth is called His foot stool as well. The ark was never a token thing in God's eyes, and so the place that represented His presence was no protection against their sin. God would sooner destroy the ark and the temple then have His name associated with inaction towards sin. Those things that were visible aids to teach often became idols in the minds of men bent upon keeping their sin, following the deception of their own hearts.
Withdrawn from them His right hand - He does not fight on their behalf anymore. They have chosen to be outside His protection, relied upon those others and things that could not deliver.
Raised a clamor in the House of the Lord - It was not worshipers, not God's people, not the feasts of booths, commemorating God's presence with them in the wilderness. No, this was the noise of the enemy taking the temple. He has disowned the place of worship, for those that were instructed in it did not honor Him in spirit and in truth. They had brought strange things into the temple, strange teachings, and used it as a place to serve their greed.
…14In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables. 15So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those selling doves He said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace!”… John 2: 14-16
10-22. Put on sack cloth - That and the placing of dust on their heads is a sign of mourning. How Lamentations speaks to the soul, the pictures are a stark contrast to those that went to Egypt, and to those that refuse God's instruction.
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.… Matthew 5: 3-5
As their life is poured out - An 18 month siege was more than their stores, and the children die of hunger. This is a reality that one could watch in the streets, but also a spiritual famine that started well before and was coming to fruition.
They have not exposed your iniquity - The prophets you liked to listen to refused to preach conviction, refused to speak of repentance, the remedy. They seemed so nice, but look around you, they said none of this would happen, how nice is it to lead people towards disaster, to not tell them that they are sick from head to foot? Links to background below.
He has carried out His word - This is the point of it all, what God said He will accomplish, He did, and will. They treated it as just words, like men speak because they have no check of or thought to holiness. Listen, God doesn't owe you a single word, now think of that the next time you read the Bible. He is telling you what sin is, what He is going to do about it, and so you know, and so you should repent.
Should women eat the fruit of their womb - Yes, that happened, and that goes on every day in abortion. These women ate their children as sustenance in famine, today we rip them out for convenience.
…28then I will walk in fury against you, and I, even I, will punish you sevenfold for your sins. 29You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters. 30I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.… Leviticus 26: 28-30
…52They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you. 53Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you. 54The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived,… Deuteronomy 28: 52-54
…28Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’ 29So we boiled my son and ate him, and the next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him.’ But she had hidden her son.” 30When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And as he passed by on the wall, the people saw the sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin.… 2 Kings 6: 28-30
My young women and my young men - The next generation.
“The slaughter of the young men and women was particularly serious because it precluded the appearing of another generation.” (Harrison)
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